A Place to Call Home v 2
by pickledegg
Summary: Leia Organa tries to find her way home along with Darth Vader's son, a funny boy named Luke. REWRITE


**Author's Note**: This is a rewrite of another one of my stories with same name, I hope this one has at least a little bit better writing and characterization than the previous. Also, the plot differs somewhat to those who have already read the original.

The original version is still up, so feel free to read it if you really want.

* * *

"**Coruscant," **Leia said, staring out at the Imperial City, the word felt metallic and unwelcome on her tongue.

It had taken much of Leia's time to convince her father to let her come with him. He had been opposed, as had her mother, but after weeks of constant nagging both had given in. Leia wasn't proud that she had resorted to such an infantile practice, she was twelve after all and a princess to boot, but– Actually she wasn't quite sure why she had done it, or why she had even wanted to come here at all. It just felt right.

"It's beautiful isn't it?" Bail Organa appeared beside her.

Leia bit her lip, Coruscant was always on the forefront of technology with peculiar buildings and an interesting array of inhabitants, but it was far from beautiful in her eyes, "That's not how I would describe it."

"I meant the sunset," her father corrected.

"It's very nice," she grinned, Coruscant's sunset was a peculiar sight, the feeling of warmth and home the sun gave her made a backdrop for the cold glow of the buildings that rose into the sky like smoke.

"I have a senate meeting in thirty minutes," he sighed, checking the large chrono in their apartment at the Alderaanian Embassy.

"Can I come with you?" Leia asked eagerly, she had heard her father describe the monstrous room where the senate met many times and had seen it a bit when she watched clips from the HoloNet, but she was sure that those experiences wouldn't compare when she actually saw it,

The senator weighed the options in his head, Leia could see it in his expression; Let Leia go and she would have a taste of the real world and an experience for what she should expect when she became a ruler of Alderaan, don't let Leia go and he could further protect her from the dangers of Coruscant.

"Grab your coat," he finally decided, "Coruscant is chilly at night."

* * *

**The **Senate Building was just as cold as the other buildings, but squatter, like a teapot surrounded by champagne glasses. It was full of hallways that lead to rooms and several of those hallways lead to one place. Father had directed her through the maze and to Alderaan's box with practiced ease, when an open door distracted Leia; from the short glimpse she saw that it was full of portraits and statues.

"Father, what is that?" she asked, her eyes still looking at the room.

"Naboo, being the birthplace and homeworld of the Emperor, is widely respected," he replied, "So much artwork from the planet was being placed in the building that they decided to move it into this room so you could see it all in one place and to let the other planets have a bit of room."

"Can we go inside?" she asked, still in an odd sort of trance.

"Alright," Bail said reluctantly and followed her inside, "But we only have a little bit of time to spare."

As her father's description implied, the room was filled with items from Naboo, mostly portraits of their monarchs past and present and replicas of statues that filled the capital city of Theed. The monarchs looked like ghosts staring at her, their eyes creating the illusion of following someone who was looking at them. Leiastudied the portrait of a past queen; like her predecessors (also queens) she was very beautiful… and disturbingly, very young. What the Naboo were thinking when they elected girls not much older than she, herself to rule their planet was beyond Leia when she stared at Queen Apailana, who had ascended to the throne when she was just twelve. Leia tried to imagine what it was like to rule a planet while still a child, she knew that someday she would become Alderaan's queen, but it seemed more like playing pretend than an actual job she would have to perform at the moment.

"She died when she was only fourteen," Leia gasped as she read the caption below.

"It was very tragic," her father sighed, "Another one of Naboo's beloved and brave queens killed at such a young age and so soon after the other."

"It must be a curse to be a queen of Naboo," she said lightheartedly, but her smile faded when she saw Bail's grim expression.

"The meeting is starting," he informed, quickly changing the subject. "Would you like to stay?" he asked, seeing that his daughter was entranced by the overwhelming mass of items. There was enough distractions in here to last an hour or two, not enough time if this session was going to last as long as the last one, but enough that he could duck out while the other senators were busy arguing and see that Leia got back to the embassy or returned with him.

The young girl nodded and quickly moved to investigate an antique blaster encased in a glass box.

* * *

**Luke **walked through the Senate Building with a disgruntled expression on his young face. He had expected to be flying off to Bast Castle on Vjun; not walking aimlessly through the hallway while his equally frustrated father went to the Emperor's office as per request. According to His Supreme Highness, Darth Vader was needed in the far side of the galaxy to assist the Navy with some Anti-Empire sentiment. Luke felt a flash of annoyance, he hadn't been on the planet he considered home for months and had been looking forward to returning. The young boy immediately chastised himself, the Emperor had never been anything, but nice to him his entire existence.

Well _most _of his entire existence. If Luke concentrated long enough, sometimes he could remember bits and pieces from a time before his father, like the sensation of a powerful sun beating down on him and sand swirling around his feet or he might hear a woman's laugh. The boy wasn't quite sure what to make of these rememberings, so he kept them safely tucked away in his mind; there wasn't any need in troubling his father about them.

Sighing, Luke sauntered into The Room –or as it was officially called, the Naboo Gallery–, it was the only room in the entire building that he knew would be empty, no one ever actually used it and they rarely acknowledge its existence, it was really only there to remind others that Palpatine was in charge (at least, that's what the boy assumed, he wasn't really sure himself). This was why he was surprised to see a girl staring intently at an old painting of his mother.

"What are _you_ doing here?" he asked, with more venom in his voice than he intended.

The girl turned and raised an eyebrow, "Aren't you a little short to be ordering people around?"

"Well I'm taller than you."

"Hardly."

Luke straightened up, "What's your name?"

"Excuse me?" she looked taken aback, Luke smirked with success; he could tell from her reaction that she was rarely outsmarted.

"What's your name?" he repeated.

"Leia Organa of Alderaan," the girl responded proudly, sticking out her hand, "Who are you?"

"Luke," he shook her outreached hand and found she had a surprisingly strong grip.

"Luke _who_?" she asked.

"Just Luke," Luke shrugged, he knew how she would react if she found out just who his father was, she'd treat him like he was different and not the good kind of different either. It was best if he just didn't tell her.

The two stood in awkward silence, Luke ran possible conversation topics through his head, he rarely talked to anyone his age– correction, he rarely _saw _anyone his age, when your father is known throughout the galaxy for being an angry monster, few people want you to fraternize with their children.

"So… do you come here often?" he tried, cringing with embarrassment.

To his relief, Leia didn't laugh or roll her eyes or anything in that category, "No, this is my first time on Coruscant. What about you?"

"My father… works here," he tried to be vague, "So yeah."

"Oh really? Maybe he knows my dad," she said excitedly, "He's a senator."

Luke mentally gulped, he knew what his father thought of senators, in fact most of the galaxy knew what his father thought of senators and government officials in general, if he knew Leia's father, they wouldn't be a good terms… to put it lightly.

"Maybe… um… he's not a senator or anything… so probably not."

"Oh! I didn't mean to imply…" Leia's eyes widened with understanding. Thank the Maker; she thought his father was a janitor or some other menial worker.

Luke stared at his feet, despite their tense first moments, Leia had been kind to him and he was lying to her, no matter how indirectly. He should make up for it in someway, but how? An idea came to him.

"Wanna see something cool?" he brought his eyes back up to her face.

She looked uncertain, "I don't think my dad would like it if he came back and I was gone."

"It won't take that long at all," Luke assured her, getting excited, she would love this, "I promise!"

"Alright," she reluctantly agreed, "But this better be quick!"

"Great," Luke shot her a grin and took her hand.


End file.
